Engineers have tried for a number of years to procure a motor without parts having alternating movement such as pistons, connecting rods, valves, etc. Hydraulic and steam turbines were the solution when the energy used was flowing water or steam under pressure. The gas turbines, which use the expansive power of the burning liquid fuel, have solved the problem for airplanes, but not, feasibly, for automobiles, to date.
All the inventions on "rotary motors" failed when built, unitl 1959 when the German Company "N.S.U." (motorcycle and small car factory) announced that the motor conceived by Engineering Doctor Wankel had reached an experimental stage that assured an immediate solution of the final mechanical problems. The laboratories and workshops of the "N.S.U." have since worked under the direction of Doctor in Engineering Froeda, and the following important companies purchased patent rights to the "Wankel" engine.
Curtis Wright in the United States (for aviation engines); in German, Mercedes Benz (for cars), Fitchel-Sachs (for motorcycle engines), Mercedes Benz again, and the group formed by Krupp, and Glokner-Humbold Dutz, all for Diesel engines; and in Japan, Toyo-Kogyo (producer of Mazda). Besides, other important companies, like Perkins, Rolls Royce, Fiat, Renault, Citronen, and Volkswagen, were interested in the "Wankel" type engine one way or another.
Ihe idea of inventing a rotary engine emerged from me when scientists found that the oil reserves were being exhausted around the world and thus in the future years (after 1960) the prices would increase remarkably.
After studying the mechanism of all existing motors, I concluded that their mechanical system could be changed to the rotary piston type, thus doing away with the crankshaft and the connecting rods completely, hence reducing the number of moving parts. As a result, the motor is lighter and smaller and used less fuel; and its production is more economical.